Celebrating The Success Of Canucks

Lorne Rubenstein

Lorne Rubenstein

Canada is a vast country but in some ways it’s small. That’s true in golf, in the sense that the golf community feels tightly enclosed in a closed space when a tour pro is on the cusp of achieving big things. Social media and the ability to connect with golf-watchers across the country immediately only make this more apparent, as it was when Adam Hadwin was playing the final round of the Valspar Championship and on his way to winning his first PGA Tour event.

Every person who watched the tournament, and the Canadians who were following Hadwin at the Copperhead course at the Innisbrook resort in Palm Harbour, Fla., will have his or her own story of how they experienced the day. Like them, I have mine, and while watching I was in touch with friends here and there who were watching Hadwin play his poised golf.

I must start with my friend Gitta Ganz in Toronto. She’s in her mid-80s and is the mother of Howard Ganz, one of my closest friends for, oh, 50 years or so. Gitta and her late husband Sam never missed a tournament on television. They were especially excited when a Canadian was in the hunt, and they were thrilled when Mike Weir won the 1999 Greater Vancouver Open — his first PGA Tour win — and positively beside themselves when he won the 2003 Masters.

Last week Gitta e-mailed me after Hadwin’s second round. “Good day for Hadwin. Any chance of him winning?” she asked. “I will sure be keeping my fingers crossed.”

I e-mailed her back. “Sure. Why not? He’s been close, he’s fearless, and so he could definitely win.”

Meanwhile, Howard was following the tournament from Tel Aviv. He watched the final round in the late hours there, via some mechanism I can’t begin to understand. His mother e-mailed both of us after Hadwin made par on the last hole against Patrick Cantlay’s bogey to win by a shot.

“What a finish!!!!!” Gitta wrote, and yes, in bold.

Howard responded: “No kidding. Good night from the Holy Land.”

And there you have it, a trinity of responses to what Hadwin was accomplishing — mother in Toronto, son in Tel Aviv, and friend in Jupiter. Good night indeed.

Meanwhile, I had been watching the last round at home in Jupiter with my pal Harvey Freedenberg, who has been visiting with his wife Linda the last couple of weeks from their home in Harrisburg, Pa. Harvey is a sort-of retired lawyer who finds time to read some 70 books a year — and review many of them for a variety of publications. We’ve spent many enjoyable hours the last couple of weeks in various cafes talking about books, golf writing, the book I collaborated on with Tiger Woods (The 1997 Masters: My Story, to be published March 20th), and many matters of the day.

Harvey came by to watch the last round with me. He was also interested, rather deeply, in the fortunes of the University of Michigan Wolverines against the University of Wisconsin Badgers in their Big Ten conference basketball final. Friendly host that I am, I switched to the game from time to time. Harvey was also following on his phone as the Wolverines won 71-56. They’ll play Oklahoma State on Friday in the first game of the round of 64 as the NCAA’s March Madness starts.

The basketball game was over well before the last few holes of the Valspar. We watched as Cantlay poured in putt after putt and caught Hadwin on the 16th hole. Hadwin had started the last round with a four-shot lead over Cantlay, with whom he was playing in the final twosome. It was down to two when Hadwin made a rare mistake and found water on the 16th with his three-wood tee shot. One double-bogey later, he and Cantlay were tired.

Hmm, what now? But not to worry for Hadwin’s now harried followers. He did win.

“That was fun,” Harvey said. “It was very enjoyable to watch a Canadian win in the company of Canadians.” In using the plural of “Canadian,” Harvey was also including my wife Nell, who watched the last few holes with us. She grimaced when Hadwin found the water on the 16th, as Harvey and I did, and, I’m sure, as Gitta in Toronto and Howard in Tel Aviv did.

We were only three people among many tens of thousands — and, likely, more — who watched Hadwin come through and win. Now it’s on to the Masters for this gifted and hard-working golfer. I’ve heard from many friends who watched him win the Valspar, and I was following along on Twitter as he played his way to his victory.

The community of Canadian golfers came together as one, and I include Harvey in there. I long ago bestowed the designation of “honourary Canadian” upon him. We met through my writing many years ago, and he knows what’s happening in Canadian golf from DeLaet to Hadwin to Hearn to Hughes to Weir.

Okay, gotta go. It’s 12:30 and Harvey is picking me up. We’re heading to Oceana, my favourite coffee shop here. There’s much to discuss, starting, I’m sure, with Hadwin. As for Gitta and Howard, we’ll be in touch during this week as the Arnold Palmer Invitational proceeds.

Can a Canadian win? Why not? Will Canadians coast to coast be watching? Of course.